Brad Friedel was thrilled to see Villa snatch a draw against Chelsea, hailing the point at Stamford Bridge as "massive".

The goalkeeper made a string of crucial saves in the second-half against the double winners.

And he insisted Villa's late show in the 3-3 draw will provide them with a massive boost as they look to climb the Barclays Premier League table.

"It was a massive one," said Friedel. "We've been in such a bad run of form that we just needed something.

"We needed to kick-start something and it's great to start it here at Stamford Bridge.

"When we went down 3-2 we thought 'here's another one lost' but all credit to the lads. We got over what I thought was a poor penalty decision against us in the first half and we just kept fighting back."

Now the veteran custodian, who was named man-of-the-match for his display, hopes the morale-boosting draw will prove to be a turning point in Villa's campaign.

"Hopefully now we can start our season from here and climb up the table," he added.

"We've just had such a bad run of results that we all just pulled together.

"You've got to draw a line under it at some stage and I think we showed today collectively we've got a lot of fight and we're going to have a lot of fight in us for the rest of the season.

"There comes a time when the talking has to stop and you just have to play.

"I think the boys showed a lot of true grit and determination to at least get something out of it.

"It was just about grinding out something and luckily enough we did. There was a different feel about us and a lot more determination."